


Hunter X Shield

by Catthhay



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Action, Adventure, F/M, Family Death, Hunter x Hunter madness, Surviving, This is a long one, Violence, more tags added as we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-02-12 10:10:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12957006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catthhay/pseuds/Catthhay
Summary: The Zoldycks make a deal with Killua; kill one last target for them, and they will stop hunting Alluka. Even Illumi agrees (but who can trust Illumi?). So Killua meets up with Gon for the first time in a good while, and they go together to the isolated small town that their target resides in.And they meet someone interesting there. With eyes that not even Killua and Gon have seen before and a family they have never heard of, she intrigues them. She also has surprising connections to them that get revealed rather quickly. If she agrees to travel with them, what will happen? Adventures are never far away around Gon and Killua, after all. Adding a shield to their otherwise completely offensive team can only be a smart move.





	1. The Town Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! This idea has been nagging at me for a long time, and I need a break from writing Undertale for so long. This is a superrrr long chapter, way longer than my usual chapters, but I couldn’t find a good place to end it. It is also very dialogue heavy and moves a bit fast, but that will change as the story goes on. Just need some exposition, ‘ya know? Hope you like it!

A boy with tall black hair edged in green bounced in place, golden brown eyes wide and shining with interest as they observed much more than anybody who saw him could have guessed. Except, of course, the white haired boy that walked up to him with a smirk. With ice eyes, it was this boy alone who understood how much was seen through his friend’s golden orbs.

“Killua!” The black haired boy yelled in joy, a smile threatening to break his face in half as he ran through the crowds of the airport to the white haired male.

“Gon,” his friend replied, much calmer and with a much smaller (but no less genuine) grin to show his own joy. “It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen each other in person, huh?”

“Yup! But you call every week, so it hasn’t been too bad. Where’s Alluka? I thought you said she wanted to come,” Killua’s face suddenly turned sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah. About that. Alluka said that she thinks she’s strong enough to adventure on her own now, and even said that if she sparred against me and landed a hit that I’d have to let her skip out on coming with me so she can find her own adventure.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Gon said with a frown, making Killia stare at him. “If that was the challenge, then why isn’t she here? There’s no way she’d be able to hit you, no matter how much stronger she’s gotten. The gap’s too wide, and you get better too quickly,” once again, Gon was treated to the sheepish look on Killua’s face that told of his friend having made an embarrassing mistake. “... You fell for her cute act, didn’t you?”

“She pretended to trip! I thought she was hurt, but that little jerk learned how to conjure crocodile tears!” Killua was ranting in a mixture of anger, pride, and shame. “As soon as I went to check up on her, she tagged me and stuck out her tongue at me. I don’t know where she got so devious!”

Gon stared at his friend with the flattest look he could muster. “Yes. Because you aren’t devious at all.”

“When did you learn sarcasm?!”

“About a year after I met Ging, and two months after he came back from his trip to the Dark Continent.”

Killua blinked. “That’s right. We haven’t gotten the whole gang together in one place since we were thirteen. I’d like us to be able to meet up without worrying about certain Spiders, ‘ya know? We should call Kurapika and Leorio sometime.”

“Totally!” Gon was bouncing again. “I turn seventeen in four months. Think that’s enough time to call them all down here? Leorio should be able to get a break from his work and studies right?” Killua sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Gon,” Killua started walking, leading Gon out of the airport. “You remember what we’re here for, right?” Gon snapped, as if just remembering.

“Ah! That’s right! Your father said he’d call off the hunt for Alluka completely if you complete one last assassination for your family, right? Normally I’d tell you not to, but if it makes things safer for Alluka then we don’t have too much of a choice,” Killua shrugged.

“Yeah, ‘sides it’s not like killing is anything new to us. And you’re only here because you were in the area and decided to tag along, remember? We can figure out where and when to meet up with the others after we finish this job.”

“Sounds good to me,” Gon darted away suddenly, making Killua stop in the middle of a bustling street to wait as his hyper friend bought some street food.

“Gah, you idiot! At least warn me first— and buy me some, too!” He rushed over to Gon’s side, forking over some money for the admittedly delicious-looking meat skewers. Killua noticed suddenly just how much he missed this. Just him and Gon, going wherever they liked and enjoying their childhood and being their hyper selves. They might not have been exactly kids anymore, as they were both sixteen now, but their personalities had not changed very much since they first parted after Gon met Ging for the first time. Back then, when Gon had climbed up the tallest tree in the normal world to meet his father, they had been only fourteen. Now they were both stronger, slightly wiser, and much more of a force to be reckoned with. Gon had even managed to get his Nen back not long before the voyage to the Dark Continent got back. But the relaxed companionship, the deep and enjoyable friendship they had, it was still as strong and pure as ever.

As long as nobody mentioned Pitou, everything was peachy.

“Sho wahts teh johb, ahmywhey?” Gon tried to talk around a mouthful of meat. Killua actually swallowed before responding as they continued towards the train station.

“Ah. Apparently there’s this big-shot business owner who just got elected mayor of a town only an hour or two away from here. The only way there is to take a train from one of the bigger cities on this continent though, and this was the closest so that’s why I had you meet me here.”

“Is the mayor involved in shady business?” Gon had mercifully asked this question without a full mouth. Killua only nodded, done with his food and now with his hands stuffed in his pockets as his blue eyes seemed to lazily gaze around him. Gon knew better; no matter how lazy Killua seemed, he actually knew everything that was going on around them even if he couldn’t see it with his eyes.

“Apparently. I was told he used to be a high ranking member of a smuggling group that dealt to a few mafia, but he disappeared one day. They only found him now because of the fact that being a mayor gets his picture plastered everywhere,” Killua tsked. “Pretty sloppy. The guy must have gotten lazy after going so long without getting caught, and decided he wanted power again. Anyway, the mafia and some other powerful people want to make sure he doesn’t talk about any of the smuggling he had a hand in and decided to hire my family to off him. ‘Cept, Dad and Grandpa are busy teaming up for another job, Illumi is multitasking between hunting down Alluka and killing people here and there, mother and the Pig are doing who-knows-what but they didn’t want to take this one, and Kalluto is… still hanging with the Phantom Troupe to try and track me down, I think.”

“Maybe it’s someone super dangerous and your dad is trying to test you again?” Gon asked. By then, the two were working their way through the line at the train station. Killua shrugged.

“I doubt it, honestly. He wouldn’t send me to get hurt, but I wouldn’t put it past him to send me to fight somebody that will drive me crazy. I dug up a bit more information about this town and the Mayor though. Even though the mayor himself looks like a normal thug without much battle experience, it’s said that the town has someone super strong there that keeps trouble away, but I couldn’t find a name for them.

“Well,” Gon said as they settled into their train seats. “I guess we’ll find out soon!”

~x~x~x~x~x~

When they got to the town, it seemed a bit underwhelming. It was a normal town, if a bit lively. At least, that’s what they thought until a woman met them at the doorway of the nearly completely empty train station. She was tall, with long red hair in pigtails and muddy brown eyes.

“Hello!” She said cheerfully. “We don’t get many visitors, since we’re such a small town, but welcome!” Without waiting for a response the woman started to lead the two teenagers into the town. “I just happened to be passing by, and I actually don’t have time to give you all a tour today, so I’ll have to leave you in the hands of the town tour guide on duty. He’s just a volunteer since we don’t get many visitors, but I guarantee you’ll like him!”

“Psst, Gon,” Killua whispered out of the corner of his mouth. Gon’s eyes flickered to him, allowing Killua to know that he was listening. “She’s a little pushy, huh?”

“Yeah,” Gon whispered back. “Feels a bit rushed.”

“Okay!” The pushy lady interrupted, clapping her hands cheerily before gesturing to a lively old man that walked up to join them. “This is the town tour guide, Juue. I have to go now, but I hope you like the town!” With that the woman left with a wave, making the three men she left behind stare after her for a moment.

“W-well,” Juue spoke up, decidedly less energetic than the woman. He seemed to ponder something before shaking it off and turning to the two teenagers with a smile. “Nevermind her, she’s always hyper. What can I do for you? Did you come to visit extended family, maybe?”

“Ah,” Killua was the one that spoke up, taking one hand out of his pocket to gesture with as he spoke. “Actually, we came on business. Could you take us to see the mayor?” A bold, upfront attack would be the easiest and fastest. Best to get this job over with as soon as possible, Killua thought. Juue raised his eyebrows, then shook his head.

“Sorry, sorry. Our Guardian told us recently that a professional assassin accepted a job to kill Mayor Toyo. Some professional hunter also just accepted a job as his bodyguard though, so unless you have those official papers…” wait.

Killua narrowed his eyes, turning to look at a too-innocent Gon who was smiling widely at him.

“You didn’t,” the white haired teen accused frostily. Gon chuckled, pulling out papers that designated him as the Mayor’s new bodyguard.

“Actually, I did! I can’t believe I tricked you with that whole ‘I guess we don’t have much of a choice,’ line. You know me better than that!” At Gon’s admission, Killua groaned and ran a hand down his face in exasperation.

“You’re right. You’re the same guy who stared at a ninja three times your strength and told him that you wouldn’t surrender but you didn’t want your legs cut off either, so you wanted to come up with another option with him. You don’t care if there’s no choices, you’ll make a choice if you have to you stubborn bastard,” Killua’s voice was resigned. Juue figured that the white haired boy must be used to his friend’s antics.

“Does that mean that you’re the Assassin then?” He asked Killua bluntly, making the boy pause. Killua slowly turned to the older man, his gaze suspicious.

“Hmm? Why, are you going to turn me in?” Killua was surprised when Juue laughed.

“No, no! You won’t be able to kill the Mayor anyway, our Guardian has never lost a fight. I hope they don’t beat you up too badly though!” Juue laughed heartily.

“Ah, right,” Killua suddenly spoke again. “Who is this ‘Guardian’ person, anyway? You mentioned them earlier but I thought it was just some religious junk. Is that person the strong fighter that keeps trouble away from this town?”

“Oh, so you’ve heard rumors of them then!” Juue said gleefully. “Mayor Toyo hasn’t been in town long enough to have as much faith in the Guardian as the rest of us, which is probably why he hired a bodyguard,”Juue nodded to Gon. “Somewhere in the city or just outside of it lives a family. We don’t know their name, or what they do, or where exactly they live. We just know that they have always been around this town, and they always send the current head of their family to be our Guardian,” as Juue explained, Killia and Gon just got more and more confused. Juue saw this, and elaborated further.

“You see, that family has apparently mastered the art of disguise. They appear in town, sometimes as a person that lives here that they knocked out for the day and sometimes as somebody that we know doesn’t actually live here. They might have even raised their children here under false identities and since we don’t know what they actually look like and they are so good at acting and disguise, we hardly ever notice if they are in the same room as us. One thing though, is that the current Guardian always dresses in a grey and purple uniform and shows up whenever the town needs them. They are always extremely capable fighters, and have protected this town for generations.”

Killua frowned. “How do you know that this Guardian guy isn’t just some of the town’s teenagers dressing up and playing hero?” Juue laughed at the question, and turned.

“Come, follow me to the town hall. Mayor Toyo has been waiting for his bodyguard to arrive. And to answer your question,” Juue paused to wave to some people as they walked. “The Guardian, and I suspect the entire Guardan family, has purple eyes. It is the strangest, most beautiful eye color most of us have ever seen. They have proven before that they are not contacts, so that means that they wear colored contacts only when they are pretending to be a normal person here in town,” Juue explained.

“What’s going on over there?” Gon asked suddenly, pointing to a crowd gathering. Juue turned to see what the golden eyed teen was talking about, and smiled when he saw the crowd.

“It’s the town’s resident performer,” Juue chuckled after saying that. “She and her family grew up here, I’ve known them for almost my whole life. Her family died about six years ago though, when she was only ten. For a while we thought she’d just waste away, since she stopped eating or doing much of anything at all after her family’s death. Then one day she just put on a dress, stood in the town square, and started to dance. She puts on random shows at least three days a week now, doing anything from dancing to gymnastics to even the occasional tightrope act. We tried to get her to sign up to travel with a circus or something, but she always shrugs us off,” Juue looked at his young companions, and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. Killua bristled at the unwelcome contact, but didn’t make a move to shrug him off. “C’mon,” Juue said cheerfully. “You guys should watch.”

“You do realize you are acting pretty chummy with an assassin, right?” Killia pointed out, narrowing his eyes at the older man who just laughed again. He must like laughing. “Aren’t you scared of me, or do you rely on your ‘Guardian’ that much?”

“It isn’t my job to stop an assassin, kid,” Juue replied amiably as he continued to herd the two boys toward the show. “I’m not your target anyway, and the Guardian will stop you from killing Mayor Toyo so it really isn’t that big of a deal. The way I see it, I get to enjoy the company of someone new!”

“You make no sense, old man,” Killua said, having the distinct impression that the man was a lot like an older, less fight-oriented version of Gon.

Speaking of Gon, the more hyper of the two teens was jumping right in front of his ice-eyed companion, grinning widely. “Killua, Killua! Come watch the show, she’s dancing with a flag!”

“Huh?” Killia promptly forgot the old man, walking up with Gon to investigate this weird-sounding dance. The person they saw made Killua gape for a moment. She was only sixteen, which Killua had already guessed from the old man’s story about her. But she was also beautiful. She had large, dark blue eyes that were vaguely the same shape as Killua’s but larger and with longer eyelashes. Her skin was clearly naturally pale, but had a healthy glowing tan that spoke of long hours in the sun. Her hair was cut short, and currently pinned to her head, but was a shade of soft lavender that seemed to shimmer in the light.

But right away, as Killua watched her go through graceful motions and swinging a six-foot flag around with her as if it weighed nothing, Killua noticed her strength. He couldn’t get an accurate read on it since her aura was coming out just as normally as everyone else’s, but he felt as if she was much stronger than she let on.

He blinked out of his thoughts as he saw the flag soar high into the air, spinning in tight circles as the woman danced under it. He thought for a moment that maybe she had forgotten about her prop as it came down and looked as if it would land on her head, but at the last possible second the lavender haired girl turned and caught the pole soundly. There wasn’t even the slightest wobble from the flag as her muscles clenched, immediately stopping its rotation with practiced ease.

Killua stared even as the crowd (and Gon) erupted in applause. Then he snapped out of it and blamed his sudden interest in this stranger on hormones.

The woman stood up out of her finishing pose, and bowed to the crowd. It wasn’t long before her eyes were drawn to an unfamiliar pair, one with shockingly pure white hair. She blinked for a moment before heading over. Gon met her halfway, waving happily.

“That was awesome, ma’am! How long did you have to practice to be able to toss the flag like that?” The girl laughed happily at Gon’s enthusiasm.

“It took a lot of practice, to be sure, but I’m a fast learner. You can call me Zaka, though my full name is Zakarai. What brings you two to town?” She asked, her midnight blue orbs analyzing them casually. The black haired boy was clearly energetic and enthusiastic with nearly everything he did. He also looked simple minded, but there was a spark of unconventional intelligence in his eyes that warned her not to underestimate him. The white haired boy was very different. Intelligence seemed to rule that one’s gaze, merely glancing into his light blue eyes made her feel as if he was dissecting her and could see her every thought. He also held himself with more casual confidence, exuding an air that said that he knew he could kick the ass of almost everyone in town and come out without even a single bead of sweat. There was just the slightest hint of childishness to him, though, that made her relax a bit. Perhaps she would get along with him?

“My name is Gon,” the dark haired teen introduced himself. “This is my best friend, Killua!” The red that creeped onto Killua’s ears made her smile, especially since Killua seemed like he should be used to Gon’s praise.

“Baarou, don’t introduce me like that, it’s embarrassing! Anyway, nice to meet you Zaka. That was actually a pretty cool show, and I’m not exactly a dance person,” Killua looked away, clearly trying to hide the sudden burst of childish excitement that was growing in his eyes. Despite his efforts, Zaka noticed it and had to suppress a smile.

“Do you want to ask me something, Killua?”

“Ah… it's just that, well,” He scuffed his shoe on the ground. “Spinning that flag actually looks kinda fun. I’m here on a job so I really shouldn’t goof off, but,” he gazed longingly at the flag that Zaka held cradled in one arm. She blinked, then laughed and held out the flag to him.

“That’s fine! You can try it,” she said, only remembering as Killua grasped the flag pole that she really shouldn’t have offered.

“Wow, this is actually pretty heavy!” Killua said in surprise, but Zaka could only stare for a moment. Killua hadn’t struggled under the weight at all, and that flag pole was a hundred kilograms! Killua handed it off to Gon, who wanted to test the weight himself. Gon didn’t struggle at all either, even as he also exclaimed about how heavy it was. Who were these boys?

“Ah, Yeah, it’s a hundred kilograms,” Zaka said slowly, slightly stunned that they were now handling the flag as effortlessly as she did. “Normal flag poles aren’t even a full two kilograms, but my parents emphasized self defense as I was a kid, so they had me build up my strength so I could protect myself. Working with heavy objects is just habit now,” she explained as she watched them sloppily try to spin the flag like she had.

“I bet you could open at least the first set of doors of the Testing Gate back home all by yourself,” Killua remarked casually as he tried to spin the flag behind his head. It was a move that Zaka had done during her dance, but he couldn’t figure out how she had done it. She moved over and started adjusting his hand and arm positions to help him learn the move, but didn’t utter a word as she allowed him to figure out the specifics on his own.

“Testing gate?” She asked instead of offering Killua flag spinning advice. It was Gon who answered as Killua focused determinedly on the flag.

“Yeah! Killua’s whole family are assassins, and they own an entire mountain. In order to get on the property, you have to open the gates which are never locked, but each door of the smallest gate weighs two tons, and the weight of each door doubles for each of the gates as the size gets bigger!” Zaka stared at him for a moment.

“That is ridiculous,” she deadpanned. “Even if they are assassins, can’t they have a normal door? Just pay off some super strong bodyguards or something.” The sound of clattering metal made her look over to Killua. He had dropped the flag and was now covering his mouth to hold back laughs. “What?”

“Y-you don’t even question the whole ‘assassin’ thing,” Killua wheezed out in between laughs. “You just listen to that whole speel, and the gates are the only thing you comment on as being ridiculous! Not the fact that we own a whole mountain or that we kill people for money!” Zaka watched as he doubled over in laughter, her own mouth twitching up in a smirk. Gon joined his friend in laughing, and it wasn’t long before Zaka was chuckling too.

“I’m not normal,” she explained with a shrug. “Anyway, if you are an assassin why are you here?” Her gaze suddenly sharpened, but not hostilely. “Are you the one that accepted the job to kill Mayor Toyo?”

“Ah, does everyone here know about that?” Killua complained, letting out a whiny groan. “That’s no fun! But yeah, I am. I don’t want to be an assassin anymore, but there’s someone I want to protect that my family wants to kill. My dad told me that if I finish this one last job, then they’ll stop trying to kill that person.”

Zaka nodded, bringing her fist to her lip in a thinking pose. “I see, so it’s your last assassination job then?”

“Unless I suddenly become super poor and have no other choice, yeah,” Killua said dismissively, handing Zaka her flag back.

“Oh, okay. Good timing then, everyone just left for lunch and Juue fell asleep on that bench,” she pointed to their old guide, who was indeed asleep. “I don’t like Mayor Toyo very much, but I do have a job to protect this town so~” she shrugged, closing her eyes. Killua and Gon tensed, sensing her sudden control of her aura.

The girl in front of them was suddenly very intimidating. And when she opened her eyes, they were a deep and bright purple that put amethysts to shame.

“I don’t have my usual outfit on me, damn. Anyway, I am the town’s Guardian,” she swung her flag effortlessly with one hand before settling into a fighting stance with it. “Do you wish to fight, or will you walk away?”

Killua slipped into a fighting stance reluctantly. And he had thought he could get a new friend! He didn’t have many (mainly because he tends to be antisocial, but he’d never admit that out loud), and Zaka wasn’t like most of the girls his age that he met. She wasn’t sissy or overly concerned with her looks or pretty gems like a certain teacher of theirs that came to mind. She was also strong and confident— and he had only known her for maybe five minutes! But her spectacular control of her aura settled his inner debate. The fact that she had purposely worked it to look exactly like the aura of someone who didn’t know Nen— and had held it like that for an entire performance—spoke volumes about her control and combat experience already. The young assassin sighed.

“What a drag. I can’t back down or else my stupid parents will get mad at me for ruining the Zoldyck Family name, but I don’t feel like fighting either,” he pulled out his old pair of yo-yos. “And I wanted to ask about your eyes, too. I’ve never seen purple eyes before, and our friend has eyes that turn red when he’s angry. I wonder if yours are related at all.”

Even as he spoke, Killua had been focusing on her to catch the very moment she moved to attack. To his surprise, though, she actually blinked in confusion and stepped out of her fighting pose to stare at him.

“You’re a Zoldyck? That explains the testing gate thing, and the owning-a-mountain thing. And I can’t believe a Kurta survived and you’re friends with them,” she slipped her flag into the crook of her arm, which was the most comfortable way to hold the prop. Her free hand came up and scratched at her pinned-up hair, messing up the delicate design it had been put into and making ends of it stand up. Nope, Killia thought, she definitely didn’t care too much about her appearance.

“Ahh, what am I supposed to do in this situation?” Zaka mused out loud, sounding resigned, confused, and conflicted all at once. “I suppose, since you ran away from your family, that I can tell you a bit more about me and mine. I’ll take you to my house, we can talk there.”

“What about the jii-san?” Gon asked, finally relaxing and speaking up. Zaka waved a hand dismissively.

“Juue’s fine by himself.”

Killua snapped out of his shocked state (he hadn’t moved even once since Zaka had first suddenly changed her mind about fighting) and blinked in disbelief. “Hold on just a minute! Aren’t you just trying to lure us into trusting you so you can take us out easier? Hearing that I’m a Zoldyck must have made you scared, huh?!” Zakarai sighed, and looked back at the white haired boy with a deadpanned face.

“You didn’t even notice that your friend Gon was preparing to jump in the middle of us the moment we started fighting so that he could stop it,” she drawled easily. “When you can see a person’s determination in their eyes like you can with him, you can tell when it will be impossible to do something because of it. He was so determined to keep us from fighting that he would have taken both of our hits at once in order to do that, and I think we both know that even if he spread his aura fifty-fifty over the two impact spots he would still come out pretty badly injured because of the strength behind both of our attacks and the fact that we’d have more than fifty percent of our aura focused on our weapons. Or we’d be using Hatsu, either way it yields the same effect,” Zaka shrugged. “So you can come and listen to what I have to say, or you can be stubborn and knocked out by Gon the moment you try to attack me. Take your pick.”

Suffice to say, Killua grumbled and shoved his yo-yos in his pockets before following them.

They came to a stop after a silent ten minute walk through the woods around the village, where they entered a decently sized house that was slightly smaller than the average mansion. Not small like Gon’s house, but nowhere near as extravagant as Killua’s either. A nice halfway point between overly-wealthy and quaint. She sat them down at a large blue-marble table, and leaned back in the obsidian chair she had chosen to sit on. There were five other obsidian chairs around the marble table, on two of which sat Killua and Gon. They were surprisingly comfortable for chairs made of solid stone, much to the boys’ surprise.

“So,” Killua said, irritation lacing his tone. “What made you want to talk to us like old friend all of a sudden?”

“And how did you know about the Kurta Clan?” Gon pitched in, leaning over the table in curiosity. “They aren’t common knowledge, especially since the majority of the clan is wiped out and all the eyes have been reclaimed by our friend, the only survivor.”

Zaka hummed in thought, putting her arms on the marble table and leaning forward on them. “The Zoldycks and the Kurta. Both families are pretty important for me, in a different way each. For the Zoldyck Family, my family has been hiding from them out here in this little village for the past five hundred years. For the Kurta, it was not unusual for a member of my family to travel to their village and marry into them, or vice versa, before their village had been wiped out,” Zaka got up and went to a tall obsidian bookcase in a corner of the room, running her hands along the spines of books until she found one and pulled it out.

“Why have you guys been hiding from us for so long?” Killua asked, genuinely curious and confused now. All his previous irritation and anger was nowhere to be found. Zaka glanced at him with a smirk as she made her way back to the table, putting the book she had selected down and flipping to a page for them to see.

“My family history starts back then, five hundred years ago. The Kurta had been slightly more well known back then, and one of the Zoldyck children at the time had been assigned to assassinate one of them. That Zoldyck snuck into the clan under the pretense of wanting to learn their history because he wanted to be a historian. His target was actually a very skilled fighter, both physically and in Nen, so he stayed under cover there for a while as he looked for an opening. But that particular Zoldyck never liked his family job, and his target could sense his inner turmoil. Against his better judgement, the Zoldyck got close to his target and they became friends— his very first friend. Eventually, he realized he couldn’t complete his job and ran away with her. The two eventually got married, and they trained in disguise without having to use Nen so that they could hide better from the rest of the Zoldycks that were trying to hunt them down.”

As Zaka spoke, she pointed to pictures and lines of text in the book. One of the pictures was a drawing (since there hadn’t been cameras back then) of a handsome white haired, ice-eyed male. Other than his hair and eye color, though, he didn’t look much like Killua at all. On the opposite page was a drawing of a pretty blond woman with catlike eyes that were, ironically enough, closer in shape to Killua’s than the actual Zoldyck that she had married had been. Under her normal picture was one where her eyebrows were drawn down, her delicate mouth turned into a grimace, and her gray eyes were now a burning scarlet.

“Wait!” Killua exclaimed, eyes wide. “That means that you and I are— are RELATED?!” Killua exclaimed, shocked. Why, why—?

“No,” Zaka’s bland answer shocked Killua out of his mental breakdown, turning his shocked face into one that was clearly caught off guard in a more comical way.

“Huh?”

“I mean, if you want to be super technical then yeah. But there hasn’t been a single Zoldyck in our family for five hundred years, so we’re so loosely related that we might as well not be related at all. There were some cases where cousins in this family married each other, but that was back more than a hundred years ago when it was still okay or even normal to do that. It’s actually because of that intermarrying, and the fact that marrying a Kurta was normal, that mixed the two bloodlines and created a brand new one over time. The purple eyes are a mixture of Zoldyck ice blue and Kurta scarlet, though our eyes are normally a midnight blue that comes from a Kurta’s normally grey eye color mixing with the Zoldyck blue. Almost one in four people in the village out there,” Zaka gestures outside of the mansion walls, “are distantly related to me, but don’t have nearly enough of the bloodline in them to inherit the purple eyes. Since we aren’t as ancient of a bloodline as the Kurta we were able to keep our eyes almost completely secret, because they also remain purple if one of us dies with our eyes in the purple state. Luckily, we have not had our eyes stolen from us and only a handful of people outside of our family line know about our eyes at all.”

“Oh, I get it!” Gon suddenly spoke up excitedly, pointing at Zaka. “That’s why you didn’t know whether or not to fight Killua! Since he had already seen your eyes, he might have told his family about them which would bring them here to look for you. And even if he didn’t tell them, if you had actually beaten him or come close to it then he would definitely have to explain that to them and they would come here anyway!”

Zaka nodded. “Exactly,” she affirmed. “But, I am in the same situation as your friend. I’m the last of my family,” she explained. “The two original members of my family, who I was telling you about earlier, settled here after years of running of the Zoldycks. The village welcomed them and kept their living here a secret. Out of gratitude, they raised every member of their family afterward to protect this village and everybody in it. We became the town’s Guardians. Whenever somebody comes here to hurt someone that lives here, or to hurt the village in general, we are in charge of intercepting the threat and protecting the townspeople. Six years ago, Mayor Toyo moved into town. He used to be just Toyo, back then. As you probably know, he betrayed a Mafia and moved here to get away from them. Three members of the Shadow Beasts were sent here to get him back. Since he had become an official member of the Town, and because the Shadow Beasts had no qualms with wrecking the town and hurting innocents to get to Toyo, my parents intervened. They beat all three members, but not before one of them injected them with a Nen poison. That member was killed by my younger brother and I, but he had also been injected with the poison. All three of them died a few days later. I spared two months of my time, tracked down the other two Shadow beasts responsible, and killed them before returning to town and taking on the family job of protecting this place,” she shrugged. “That’s about it.”

Gon looked down, sad about hearing about her family’s death while Killua only looked slightly affected.

“A Nen poison,” the white haired teen muttered under his breath. Zaka nodded.

“A poison type that is a hundred times harder to build an immunity to than normal poisons. Sometimes it is impossible to be immune, because a Nen poison can be unique to a Nen user or the potency can depend on the user’s strength. We couldn’t find a Nen exorcist in time and since my brother and I had killed the Beast that injected it, the poison ended up only getting stronger with time.”

Killia sighed.

“Why do you stay here?” He suddenly asked her. Gon glared at his friend.

“Hey! Even I’m more sensitive than that, Killua!” But Zaka and Killua ignored him, the woman of the two frowning at Killua’s words without answering. So, the Zoldyck continued.

“I mean really. Your family is gone, and the town your family has protected for so long is being run by the man that is ultimately responsible for their deaths. You have to hate him, don’t you? He’s a criminal, he clearly doesn’t regret his smuggling ways and he is taxing the townspeople just to fill his pockets. If anyone is threatening the town, it’s him.”

“I know,” Zaka growled, fists clenching. To the two other teens’ amazement, her eyes stayed blue rather than changing to purple. Maybe the rules were different than for the Kurta? She was certainly very upset, and they knew she wasn’t wearing contacts. “I know that! I was planning to take him down secretly, when I wouldn’t be noticed. But I had to train myself up to the right strength, and I had a teacher that passed through here a few years ago to do just that. I wasn’t able to spare time to my own assassination plot until this year, and then he goes and runs for mayor! I couldn’t kill him without it being suspicious, and I didn’t want the town to lose faith in the Guardian. It’s my family’s legacy, so I want to at least leave that much untainted. I wanted to just kill him in his sleep, make it look natural, but now there’s a hit out on him and I can’t even do that without it being suspicious!”

Both boys were silent for a moment, but Gon spoke up after a tense moment.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you come out, as the Guardian, to disown him.”

“Huh?” Zaka and Killua blinked in confusion even as Gon was in a thinking pose.

“Well, think about it. The town relies on you, right? Even we saw that they have a lot of trust in the Guardian. If you tell them about how much of a criminal he is, about how much he is hurting the town, then you can publicly disown him from your protection. Then Killua can kill him (if he can get around me first), and it won’t damage your reputation because it will be for the betterment of the town. Then Killua can get his family’s promise not to hunt Alluka anymore, and you can leave with us!”

… Zaka was the one that commented;

“One part of that plan doesn’t seem to fit…”

“Yeah, of course I’d get around you, baarou!”

“No, I didn’t mean that part. Why would I leave with you guys?”


	2. Death and disguises and departure, oh my!

It had been two hours since Gon and Killua had entered Zakarai’s house, and the dark haired boy was still trying to convince Zaka to travel with them.

 

“Come on! You seem fun and smart, and you’ve been stuck in one town your whole life so you should go out and see more things!” Gin’s excited tone had slowly been chipping away at Zaka’s resolve. How the hell could a sixteen year old still make her feel like he was a kid that she wanted to protect? Then again, his argument was so god damned simple that it could have been a child’s argument anyway.

 

“FINE!” She finally yelled, tired with the argument. She swung over and pointed a finger angrily at a certain Zoldyck sitting with his feet up on the heavy stone table. “And I never gave you permission to make a bag of my popcorn! Our argument is not a movie for you to sit back and enjoy!” The white haired teen shrugged.

 

“I don’t know why you even had it, you don’t have a microwave. I had to use my Nen super carefully to get it popped just right,” he tossed a handful of he treat into his mouth lazily. When he finished the mouthful, he sighed pitifully. “It was such a pain.”

 

“I’ll show you pain…” Zaka muttered darkly, her Nen flaring to life. Both boys knew her well enough to call her bluff, though (two hours of arguing really helps you understand somebody else).

 

“Oh yeah! That reminds me!” Gon yelled suddenly, making Zaka’s aura fizzle out of its active state and appear normal again. “How do you do that?”

 

“Do what?” The girl asked, tilting her head in confusion.

 

“Make your Nen look like… like the Nen of somebody who doesn’t know how to use it at all,” he explained, his simple wording making both other teens slightly sweatdrop.

 

“Oh,” Zaka rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s a habit. From a very young age I was taught to never attract attention, because a Guardian is more effective when assailants don’t know that they’re there. That idea applied to my Nen usage, once I was finally taught how to use my aura. I examined the aura of everybody in town for a while, then came up with a shape to force my aura in to, so that nobody who came into town looking to cause trouble would be able to pick me out as a threat since they wouldn’t be able to tell I could use Nen,” she smirked at them both. “It worked with the two of you. It works especially well considering the fact that I am a master of disguise; you guys still haven’t noticed that I was the woman that welcomed you to town and handed you over to Juue.”

 

Both boys blinked for a moment before, at the same time, screaming:

 

“HEEEEH?!”

 

“You were the pushy girl?!”

 

“Somebody with white hair wants to be smacked,” Zaka growled, eyes narrowing slightly at the unrepentant Zoldyck.

 

“Show us!” Gon shouted, neither a question or a demand. He was like an excitable little puppy.

 

“Uh,”

 

“C’mon! You said you disguise without Nen, right? I wanna learn!”

 

“Oh hey, that would actually be a pretty cool skill. Teach me too,” Killua butted in. Zakarai rubbed her forehead, wondering how in the hell her life turned out like this.

 

“I’ll show you. Once. And then we plan the nuances of how we’re dealing with Mayor Toyo. Deal?” Both boys nodded, making the lavender haired girl sigh again. She could only hope that this little skill didn’t get them in trouble once they learned how to properly do it. She turned on her heel, disappearing down a hallway to come back a minute later with a small box to supplies. Dropping it gently on the Obsidian table, she clicked it open and began to pull out a few supplies.

 

“You guys create the person you want me to become. Gender, eye color, face shape, skin color, hair.”

 

Gon tapped his chin in thought before pulling out his phone and opening up a picture and showing it to Zaka. “Disguise as her!” The teenage bodyguard hummed, soaking in every detail before turning to her box. She pulled out what looked like a thin skin, and a bottle of foundation.

 

“This is a mix of foundation and paint, a special concoction my family invented. It will stick on our special latex, also of our invention, and look and feel like skin. This isn’t the waterproof version, since that one tends to look slightly more plastic, but it doesn’t come off easily even so,” she explained as she took a brush and coated the thin skin like thing she had pulled out in the foundation. She waved it in the air a few times. “Quick drying too,” she explained right before she slipped the skin over her head, even over her hair. She popped the box all the way open, looking into the mirror in the top of the case as she flattened the latex over her head so there were no wrinkles. Zaka hummed as she took something that looked like two thin packing peanuts and attached them to the chin of the latex, giving her a surprisingly realistic sharp chin. She pulled the latex down over the thing she had used to sharpen her chin, blending it in with more foundation so that it looked as if it was her real face color and shape.

 

Zakarai was a whirl of eyeliner, outlining and changing the appearance of her eye with expert speed and precision, and even Killua gawked when she brought out her large container of colored contacts, putting in a light shade of golden brown and using various face pencils to draw in her eyebrows, outline and shape her lips, and make both look realistic. She even glued on a few fake hairs to the eyebrows to bring the look to life. The holes for her mouth and nose blended seamlessly into the creases of her skin, allowing her to breathe without appearing to even exist. The whole face looked real. Both teenage boys were captivated by the display.

 

Finally, Zaka darted into the hall one more time and came back out with a mannequin head that held a long salmon colored wing. She set it on the table, taking out wig gels and a pair of scissors. “Show me the picture again,” she ordered Gon. He nodded wordlessly, and she looked between the picture and the wig as she trimmed and styled with speed that blurred her hands. Five minutes later she was able to slip the finished wig on, and there stood a perfect copy of Gon’s Aunt Mito. From the neck up, anyway. She was not going to show them a full body disguise, no thanks.

 

“Woah,” both boys said at the same time.

 

“That’s… it looks exactly like her!” Killua remarked, clearly shocked. Zaka grinned, ruining the illusion. Her smug grin just didn’t fit with Mito’s kind face.

 

“Thank you. I practiced for an extremely long time to get this good at disguises,” she flipped the back of her wig of hair for drama, then slipped it and mask off. “It’s hard when you can’t use Nen at all, but it is way too easy to track someone by their Nen. Using as little as possible is best when you want to remain unnoticed.”

 

“Like Zetsu,” Gon pointed out, earning a smile and nod from Zaka.

 

“Exactly like Zetsu,” she confirmed. “I’ll teach you guys how to make your aura look like a normal person’s too, it’s just a good skill to have for self preservation. There are some real creeps who are always on the lookout for strong opponents and won’t think twice before stalking you.”

 

Both boys shivered, adopting the same disgusted look on their faces. “Like Hisoka?” Killua asked with a wrinkled nose. Zaka, who had just finished packing her disguise stuff up again, paused and looked up at them with wide eyes.

 

“You guys know that murder clown too?” She asked, aghast. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.”

 

Gon and Killua chuckled. “Well, if that’s your reaction then at least there isn’t any doubt we’re talking about the same guy,” Killua agreed with a nod.

 

“How did you meet Hisoka? Did you ever fight him?” Gon asked, slightly excited yet at the same time slightly subdued. Zaka sat down in one of the Obsidian chairs, grimacing.

 

“Hunter exam,” she answered simply. “It was his first year taking it. Nobody took him seriously— at least, none of the idiots who were doomed to fail from the start, anyway. Anyone with any kind of sensitivity could feel the danger in his aura,” Zaka shivered. “Pretending to be normal seriously helped. Towards the end he got really restless, and the second to last examiner was such an idiot that it threw him over the edge and he started attacking anyone with control over their aura. Mostly the examiner though,” the girl shook her head at the memory. “Poor guy had barely passed his own exam, don’t know why Netero had ever let the guy proctor the exam when he barely knew the basics of Nen. He never stood a chance.”

 

Killua and Gon were gaping. Zaka blinked at them, confused by their shock. “What?”

 

“That’s the year before we took our exam!” Gon shouted. “Well, Killua ended up breaking the no-killing rule in the last phase and had to get his license the next year, but still!”

 

“Baarou, don’t say unnecessary things!” Killua scuffed his friend over the head.

 

Zaka laughed at them. “Ah. I’m probably just a few months older than you guys then. Anyway, my exam was boring. I already knew Nen, obviously, so I breezed through everything. The only hard part had been hiding my Nen from Hisoka.”

 

Killua nodded, clearly understanding her boredom with the test. Gon, who legitimately had a lot of trouble with his, just looked a bit annoyed at their nonchalance.

 

“Thanks. Rub it in, overachievers,” he said with a pout and his arms crossed. Zaka and Killua laughed, the white haired boy grabbing his friend in a chokehold and giving him a noogie.

 

“Aww don’t worry about it, idiot! You’re just as strong as me now, remember?”

 

“I feel like you think too highly of yourself!” Gon said in between laughs before he finally shoved his friend off. Zaka watched the two with a small smile. They caught her staring, and blinked at her curiously. Catching their curious gazes, she quickly shook her head.

 

“Don’t worry about it. You guys just remind me of me and my brother, that’s all,” she waved off their concern and stretched. “Now then. Plan for Toyo?”

 

—————

 

It was dawn the next day. Mayor Toyo had met with his new Hunter guard the previous night, a boy who seemed way too innocent to be a hunter let alone fight off an assassin. To say that he was not confident in his safety would be an understatement. But, Toyo reminded himself, he still had the town Guardian to rely on. So he’d straighten his tie and go out to deliver his second official speech as mayor, and if anything happened he had two capable fighters to hide behind. Perfectly fine.

 

Except, when he stepped outside, he found a familiar figure standing on the stage he was supposed to deliver his speech on. The town was already gathered in the audience seats or standing around in the general area.

 

The figure was dressed in pale purple and grey, the kind of colors that nobody would expect to easily blend into the shadows. Both the shadows of midnight, and of early morning. There was a thick grey and purple scarf hiding the bottom of their face and a good portion of their upper body, and short black hair that Toyo knew was most likely a wig.

 

The Guardian. Their purple eyes shone like gems from above the scarf.

 

“Oh!” Toyo scrambled to compose himself. His young Hunter guard was only a few feet behind him, watching the scene with a surprisingly observant gaze. Toyo was supposed to be safe in this situation, but he felt more in danger than he had ever felt before in his life. “Guardian!” He called, his nerves making his voice shake as he held his arms out in a warm greeting. The guardian kept their arms crossed and did not answer, face blank.

 

“My family has kept everyone in town safe for generations. We kept you safe, when you were followed here by criminals after your blood,” the Guardian’s voice was deep, clearly being changed a bit by the person themself so that it didn’t sound specifically female nor male. “But you’ve done nothing to warrant further protection,” Toyo froze, sweat breaking out on his forehead. What? What was going on? “You’ve conned, and overtaxed, and taken advantage of us. Your sweet words bought you the office of Mayor, but I am officially removing you from my protection. You will gain no support from the town’s Guardians.”

 

Toyo was stunned still even as the guardian vanished into the forest nearby. The crowd started talking, murmuring, but it was too loud for Toto’s ears. He turned to head back inside, only to be knocked over by his guard. Toyo’s plump face went red with rage.

 

“How dare you—“

 

The golden eyed boy only glanced at him and pointed to the poison-soaked dagger now hilt-deep in the concrete where Toyo had been a moment ago. The politician gulped.

 

Gon stood up all the way, pushing his leg back so that he held a steady stance, smiling as his ice eyed friend dropped down in front of them. Killua looked annoyed.

 

“Go~on,” he whined, pouting. “Come o~n! I’m not in the mood for a spar.”

 

“You two are friends?!” The man on the ground sputtered, suddenly losing all hope as his bodyguard smiled at him widely.

 

“Un! But don’t worry. I don’t approve of killing unless necessary, so I’ll protect you.”

 

“Gon! You’re supposed to be on my side!” The assassin grumbled grumpily. Gon just shrugged.

 

“You wanna kill him, you’re gonna have to make a move soon~” Gon teased cheerfully. Killua growled under his breath, then seemed to disappear. Almost the exact same moment, Gon also seemed to vanish. Toyo couldn’t breath for a long moment until he saw the two teenagers in the air swapping blows too fast to follow with his average eyesight.he could have sworn he saw lightning spark in the air around them as the two jumped, fought, landed, and repeated. It looked like a game for the two of them. Neither seemed to be taking the battle seriously, they both had smiles on their faces (well Killua had a smirk, but same thing).

 

“You’re Gon-na have to do better than that!” Gon shouted at his friend with a laugh. Killua twitched, his face twisting into an odd combination of disgust and amusement.

 

“Did you just make a pun with your own name?”

 

“Yup!”

 

“Okay, now I have to beat your ass!” Killua shouted back through his laughter. Toyo could help but stare at them, horrified. It was like a game to them! They were just— what?— playing? Having fun as if this was just a game they were part of on the playground? It was sick! His life was on the line, here!

 

“Oh no! Don’t Kill-ua me!” Gon laughed as he sent another punch to Killua’s face. His friend ended up taking the hit and flying backwards several feet. He landed nimbly, glaring at his friend playfully.

 

“Ohhh no, you’re asking for it, Gon!”

 

“Oh noooo~ I’m sooooo scared~” at this point, Gon just couldn’t stop laughing.

 

Killua landed from their next bout of punches early, glancing over to Toyo. “Oh. Look, he’s dead.”

 

Gon glanced back, seeing Mayor Toyo with a life firmly in his chest. It seemed the man had died just a minute ago. “Oh. Damn it,” Gon glanced back at his friend with narrowed eyes. “You threw that back when you let me punch you, didn’t you?”

 

Killua threw his arms behind his head lazily. “Oh, I don’t know. Apologize for those stupid puns and I might tell you~”

 

“I’ll just ask Zaka, she was watching the whole time anyway,” Gon cheerfully stayed, walking right past Killua with a smirk. The assassin twitched, turning to jog after his friend.

 

“Hey, no fair! I deserve an apology for those horrid puns! I’m going to have nightmares of bad humor for a week now!”

 

Meanwhile, the few people who hadn’t ran away after the first knife was thrown were left staring in confusion. They couldn’t even properly be scared by Toyo’s death, because the two boys responsible were just too childish and confusing for them to feel any fear from the whole thing. Besides, if the Guardian decided that Toyo wasn’t worth protecting then he probably had it coming. They turned and walked away, their trust and loyalty in the Guardian far outweighing any anger they should have had at their mayor’s assassination.

 

—————

 

“But what if the Phantom Troupe decide to waltz in and cause havoc? I should be here!”

 

“You’d probably die. Besides, most of the original Troupe is dead and they’re still trying to fill in the vacancies. They won’t have any reason to come out here.”

 

“The apocalypse! They will need me if the apocalypse hits!”

 

“We already fended off the Chimera Ant apocalypse a couple years ago. If something worse comes by then you won’t be able to do shit by yourself anyway.”

 

“Agh! Fine!” Zaka slung her backpack of necessary items over her shoulders. She had tried to find a reason to stay, but Killua and Gon just kept refuting every argument she came up with. They (Gon) were going to make her travel with them and they (mostly Gon) weren’t going to take no for an answer.

 

“Has anyone ever told you that you are more stubborn than a Donkeyturtle?” Zaka finally asked Gon. He nodded without hesitation, making the girl sigh.

 

“Okay. Fine. Where to first then?”

 

“You see, that’s the magic of traveling,” Killua said, wiggling his fingers in a halfhearted jazz hand. “You don’t have to have a place in mind to go to, you just travel.”

 

“Okay. Let me hang up this note in the town square and we can go ‘travel’ then,” she said reluctantly, mimicking Killua’s jazz hands.

 

—————

 

NOTE:

 

I am sorry, but this recent mishap with Mayor Toyo has brought to my attention that you all have become too dependent on me and my family to protect you. I will be doing some traveling with friends. You can still call me on the emergency number below if necessary, but please only use in a life or death situation. Relying so completely on one person isn’t healthy.

 

~ Sincerely, Your Guardian.

Emergency number; Hunter-Hotline-#99973

 


End file.
